12 Commercial Gardening 



start the Government Afforestation Scheme at once, he will find plenty 

 of skilful foresters who will see that the preparation and planting of the 

 17,000,000 acres of waste ground in the United Kingdom are carried out 

 properly. 



Raising Forest Trees. The simplest method of raising these is from 

 seeds. These are collected when ripe in autumn and carefully stored until 

 the spring. In some cases, however, like the Willow, Poplar, Elm, in 

 which the seed ripens early, sowing may take place during the summer 

 months. The seed land is prepared by ploughing or digging, and harrow- 

 ing and raking, until it is brought to a fine tilth. Drills are then drawn 

 at regular distances apart, varying from 3 in. to 12 in. according to the 

 kind of seed that is sown, each kind being covered with three or four times 

 its own depth of soil, and afterwards lightly rolled. In some cases seeds 

 are sown broadcast over beds about 5 ft. wide, but generally speaking it is 

 more economical, and better for the seedlings, to sow thinly in drills. To 

 allow for cultural attention like weeding, hoeing, watering, &c., the seed- 

 beds should not be more than 4 to 5 ft. wide, with an alley between, so that 

 half the seed-bed may be attended to from one side and half from the 

 other without having to tread upon the soil between the plants. 



The forest and other trees raised in large quantities from seed are Oaks, 

 Beeches, Birches, Ashes, Poplars, Sweet Chestnuts, Horse Chestnuts, Elms, 

 Hollies, Hawthorns, Hornbeams, Limes, Mountain Ashes, Planes, Syca- 

 mores, False Acacias (Robinia), Maidenhair Trees (Gingko), Willows, Tulip 

 Trees (Liriodendron), and such conifers as the Firs, Spruces, Pines, the 

 Arbor Vitse, Cedars, Thuyas, Larches, Cypresses, &c. 



Apart from the forest trees, there are hundreds of others of a more 

 ornamental character, chiefly used for the decoration of large parks and 

 gardens, public places and squares, streets, &c. These are raised not only 

 from seeds in the same way as forest trees, but in the case of special 

 varieties, or when seeds are not ripened in abundance, they are also raised 

 by means of cuttings, layers, buds, grafts, and suckers. The most impor- 

 tant plants in this group and in the forest section are dealt with in Vol. II 

 in the article on " Trees and Shrubs ", to which the reader is referred. 



Of late years a great trade has sprung up, chiefly amongst nurserymen, 

 in ornamental flowering shrubs, which are grown in pots and gently forced 

 into early bloom in Spring (January to March and April). The principal 

 plants thus grown are Lilacs, Double Cherries, Azaleas, Almonds, Japanese 

 Quinces, Wistaria, Double Plums, Cydonia Maulei, Pyrus spectabilis, 

 Deutzia gracilis, Staphyllea colchica, Prunus triloba, Magnolia Soulan- 

 geana, Forsythia suspensa, Ribes sanguineum, &c. &c. 



A trade also has sprung up again in clipped trees and shrubs of an ever- 

 green character. Such trees as the Box and the Yew, the Poet's Laurel, 

 and others are cut into various shapes, some more or less fantastic as 

 shown in the photograph (fig. 1). They are usually grown in tubs, and 

 are utilized for what some people call decoration, but others desecration, 

 of large gardens. [j. w.] 



